What Is a Child's Right to Freedom?

In one of my child rights advocacy visits to secondary schools, I
met the principal of a school who clearly prohibited me from
talking to his students about the rights they have as children.
We had an interesting discussion in which he gave some
unsubstantial grounds against the enactment of the Child’s Rights
Act. One of the grounds he stated was that the Child’s Rights Act
incites rebellion amongst children against their parents and
limits the amount of control parents have over their children
with particular reference to Sections 6, 7, 8, 9 of the Act.
Keeping in mind that there are other people with similar thoughts
I would love to comment on this view.

The Child’s Rights Act, 2003 of Nigeria (CRA) represents the
nationalization of the Child Rights Convention (CRC) and
according to sections 6, 7, 8, 9; a child has the right to
freedom of association and peaceful assembly; right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion; right to private and family
life; right to freedom of movement respectively. At first glance,
these rights will be widely accepted and appreciated by children
especially those who have strict parents while on the other hand
it will be widely frowned upon by parents who consider these
rights as limiting the amount of control they have over their
children. The law respects the family unit and in the quest to
protect the rights and welfare of children it has no intention to
incite rebellion in a family or limit the amount of control
parents have over their children. In this light it is important
to emphasize the fact that if you read these sections carefully
you would realize that the law does not just state the above
rights for children. It further states that such rights are
subject to the law and should be exercised in accordance with the
necessary guidance and direction of parents and guardians and in
the interest of the welfare and safety of a child. For example
Section 9 of the CRA 2003 deals with a child’s right to freedom
of movement states:

“(1) Every child is entitled to freedom of movement subject to
parental control which is not harmful to the child.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall affect the
right of a parent, and where applicable, a legal guardian or
other appropriate authority to exercise control over the movement
of the child in the interest of the education, safety and welfare
of the child.”

What does this mean? This means that parents still have the
necessary control they need over their children, and children
cannot use the above rights as an excuse or reason for disobeying
their parents. For example a child cannot leave the house and
come back late at night without regard to a curfew fixed by
his/her parents for his/her own safety and welfare just because
he/she has a right to freedom of movement. The CRA will never
uphold this argument.

Since rights hardly ever come without responsibilities, Section
19 of the CRA gives children responsibilities such as respecting
their parents, superiors, elders at all times, and contribute to
the moral well being of the society, just to mention a few. With
such responsibilities it is very clear that the Child’s Rights
Act never intended to make children rebellious.

Those who think that there are no justifications for these rights
really need to think otherwise. For example, the right to freedom
of thought, conscience and religion means that it is not in the
interest of the child for parents to foist their ideas and
religious idiosyncrasies on the child taking into cognizance the
ever-evolving choices which the child may make in the future. For
example, in Nigeria, there was a time when parents wanted their
children to be doctors, engineers or lawyers in order to fulfill
their pride and probably be called “Mama Doctor”. Thus, they
never listened to their children or paid attention to any other
profession they had a passion for. They would force the idea of
becoming a doctor into a child’s mind and some will never made it
through medical school because they had no passion for it. Others
will go through medical school and still switch to another
profession afterwards, just because they didn't want to become a
doctor. Some even grow up hating their parents for that and this
is not good. Though the Act recognizes that children need to be
guided in making certain choices, it encourages parents to have
regards to the best interest of such children in giving such
directions.

A child’s right to freedom of movement means that children should
not be restricted unnecessarily from going to school,
participating in meaningful outdoor activities, interacting with
people within their environment because this indirectly hinders a
child’s development as education also involves moving around and
not just learning in classrooms.

I explained some of the above to the principal that day but he
remained adamant and since it was his school, I had to leave
peacefully. All legislation have one form of criticism or the
other but I believe that the Child’s Rights Act 2003, Nigeria
just like the Child Rights Convention plays a great role in
promoting the welfare, safety, best interest and protection of
children.